For fun, adding Ndamukong Suh ups our Elite talent level to: Cam Wake Brent Grimes Kong Suh Mike Wallace Brendan Albert, when healthy, is Elite at LT On the cusp Brandon Fields Up and coming: Ryan Tannehill, c'mon man, he is passing Dan Marino's early in the career marks Olivier Vernon Jarvis Landry Charles Clay, though we probably lose him. Say what one will about Rexxy, no coach in the league gives a better hard sell then Rexxy Mike Pouncey is just not my favorite player, imo he is soft and does not have a high football IQ. The League apparently loves him..I don't Point being is this, do we have enough "elite" talent to confidently win week in and week out, no matter who we play?
UNOS (unless otherwise seen) jury is out Dio Jordan Think he is a great piece, for his limited role as a coverage player. Elite? Not seeing it yet. Dio seems to have maturity issues Would love to toss Lamar Miller somewhere on there, when Daniel Thomas can out play you some games, you ain't elite
Wake and Suh. Albert has always been in the good to very good category. Wallace is a joke. He continually grades out at the bottom of the league among starters. He isn't even a fundamentally sound football player. Jordan isn't even a starter. Pouncey ranked somewhere in the 50's among OG's last year. That is borderline bad. PFF ranked Grimes in the 40's last year. He is fading. CB's in their thirties are risky business. On the other hand there is significant potential for greatness among some of our young guys, imo. Be realistic; when you are saying a player is elite, you are saying he is top five at his position in the NFL.
Clay leaving us isn't entirely up to him. That said, we have made our defensive line so good that it can dictate every single game. Running on us will be difficult, the pocket will collapse and we know wake and Vernon will crash the edges. all we need is steady points and baby we are in business. Suh is going to change everything about us.
Actually, the Dolphins have either cut,traded,or let walk far more elite players than they have. Just off the top of my head. Vontae Davis and Sean Smith were both ranked near the top of the league at CB last year and Evan Mathis is always near the top at OG. If we want to go further back the list would grow. How bad could we use a couple shut-down corners and an all-pro OG right now. Dolphins really need to ace this year's draft.
Disagree about Grimey, Albert and Wallace "Graded out" lol, Grimes is a shut down corner and playmaker Albert was Elite until injured Wallace is still able to get open deep at will, problem lays with #17, even then 10 Td's puts him in top 10 in Td's, this with Tannehill still unable to hit him down the field.
Have you had a prophetic vision that we are going to be able to draft Danny Shelton; otherwise I don't yet see a DL like you described. Suh is just one man and Wake is probably going to be taking a few less snaps as he ages. Shelby is a decent run stopping DE but he is nothing special and Mitchell was extremely disappointing last year ranking just 36th and getting just one sack. He would need to take it to a completely different level.
Going back to 2009 Albert consistently ranked in the 20's except for 2009 he ranked 58th. Last year was by far his best year but of course, it was only half a season. If that is elite than I think their needs to be a couple other levels above elite. Grimes had 5 passes defensed and one interception and was PFF's 37th ranked CB. He will be 32 in July. It is what it is. Wallace was PFF's 53rd ranked WR, and I think that is his best ranking since 2011.
Unless they keep a tight end in to block, (which is a win in itself because we suck at covering them), who do you double? Wake, suh, or vernon? These three can beat 1 blocker pretty consistently. Wakes not going to be taking less snaps just yet. Mitchells job Wil be easier do to Suh. The entire offensive line will be concerned with suh. We ****ing learned that first hand last year.
Eh, saw what I saw. As for Wake, his life just got much easier, as did Vernon's Perhaps PFT can also explain to one how blocking schemes work out on the field?
Exactly. And on running plays getting blocks on lbs will be quite difficult with all that going on. I'm pumped
Vernon might be my most hated Dolphin on the roster. Not so much because of him, he's a good role payer. But because fans actually believe he's a rising star... A double digit sack season + bad pass rush efficiency rating = fluke. Which is why his sack numbers fell off in 2014. He's Kenny Mixon and/or Lorenzo Bromell getting 1-1 matchups and nobody paying attention to them. Those two were every bit as lucky to be playing with Jason Taylor as Vernon is to be playing opposite of Wake. Elite players list IMO Wake, Suh, Jones, Grimes. All bad mothers. Brandon Albert is in the very good category due to his injuries. Mike Wallace has elite speed, but isn't an elite receiver. Mike Pouncey is coming off a season playing out position after missing extended time with a serious injury, but he's very good as well. Don't know if his ceiling is "elite" but it's nice to think it can be.
I see the kind of synergy you guys are suggesting but I see Mitchell as a weak link. I would like to see him traded and the Dolphins drafting Danny Shelton or Marcus Hardison.
I think you can be assured that if Vernon doesn't produce as a pass rusher this year we will see a lot of Fede or Jordan or even McCain getting their chances.
PFF is not the end all be all, especially when it comes to their run blocking grades. Colledge was rated the worst run blocking guard. Thomas was 15th worst, and Smith was 16th worst. James was the 4th worst run blocking tackle. Yet, behind all that supposedly crappy blocking, Lamar Miller averaged 5 yards a carry. How can that be? This is not the only time I've noticed this discrepancy, when it comes to run blocking grades for a zone blocking team. Their system seems to favor man blocking schemes for whatever reason. Wallace ranked 53rd, but Tannehill's passer rating when throwing to Wallace was 114. That was like the 5th or 6th best in the league.
Elite to me means top 5 at their respective positions. That would be Suh, Wake, Albert (when healthy), and Brent Grimes. Reshad Jones and Mike Pouncey (at center) are very good, but not elite IMO. Mike Wallace is far from elite.
i look at elite as Top 5 at the position. So with that I get three: Suh,Wake, Grimes. But that defination I have Grimes barely sliding in at 5: Revis, Sherman, Peterson, Haden, Grimes.
Suh and Wake. Unfortunately Grimes to me seems to be on the decline just a little. Great player, just not elite.
I am of the mindset that we don't need a team of elite players but a team full of role players who do their jobs. But to each their own.
I don't think that Wallace is "elite." He has "elite" speed, but that doesn't make him an "elite" receiver. For me, I think that we have Suh, Wake, and maybe Grimes/Pouncey as "elite" players on our team. I think we have some good/very good players in Tannehill, Wallace, Miller, and Albert. Jelani Jenkins may fall in here also.
True, imo you need elite guys at some positions, and tier 2-3 guys who do their jobs well consistently to win ballgames in the NFL.
When I think "Elite" I think can take over games, Wallace can do that, in fact B Fields a punter has taken over games via pinning opponents inside their own 5 yd like
When I think of "elite" receivers, I think of guys like Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson (in his prime)...I don't see Wallace as one of those guys. I think he's a good receiver, with "elite" speed. I just don't see Wallace as being a guy that can take over a game. I don't see him being the guy to go up after tough balls, and out-muscle DBs on a consistent basis. I think that it takes a certain type of QB to allow Wallace to really be dynamic, and a certain type of offense. Tannephins gets alot of crap from myself, and others on here, but I do think he's right about Wallace, and the timing based offense.
As does Greg Jennings, Dwayne Bowe and now Jeremy Maclin. The fact that you may have 4-5 elite wrs in football make you overpay for the rest.
Elite? Only Suh and if Albert had stayed healthy he was playing that way. Otherwise what we have is a collection of good to very good players, but not great/elite players. If those other players were great/elite...we wouldn't be missing the playoffs even with the coaching. Grimes is a very good player to me. CB's are very up and down and dependent on having a solid front 7. Rare to see corners who just year after year after year flat out own like Revis.
